Lunch is a meal often rushed; finding time to prepare a healthy and well-rounded lunch can be difficult and it’s easy to simply rely on the same set of dishes over and over again. An important meal of the day, lunch deserves its own makeover and everyone can create quick, delicious lunches packed full of health benefits with the ease that a middle of the day meal requires. Beat your bland lunches and incorporate the spices of India into your midday meal for some health benefits that will see you through to dinner. The sky is your limit when it comes to incorporating spices into your meals but when you buy spices it is important to note just how they can aid your body:

Cinnamon - A delicious spice used in savoury dishes and sweet desserts; it is an ideal spice to help lower blood sugar, naturally helping to fight infections and stop vomiting or diarrhoea.

Cloves - Offering a warm and rich flavour to any dish; cloves can help with digestive problems, provide an immune system boost, protect vital organs like the liver and help to fight cancer.

Peppercorns - A versatile staple ingredient coming in many different varieties; peppercorns have high antibacterial properties and are packed full of vitamins and minerals.

Cumin - Slightly bitter tasting but an essential for enhanced flavour in dishes; this spice in its seed and oil form has major inflammatory properties, provides support for the digestive system and respiration functions as well as helping to maintain a healthy cholesterol.

Mace - Offering a similar taste to nutmeg but often sweeter and less intense; mace helps as a natural anti-depressant, it also enables better digestive functions and is high in vitamins like vitamin C and vitamin A.

Coconut - A unique taste, coconut adds a lot of flavour to savoury and sweet meals; every edible part of the coconut provides healthy fibre, a high concentration of needed calcium and a wide array of minerals, vitamins and digestive acids.

Coriander Seeds - Different to the leaves, the seeds can be crushed for a warm and spicy citrus flavour; coriander seeds can aid to lower blood pressure and blood sugar as well as helping with cholesterol levels and fight certain infections.

Kashmiri Chilli - A mild chilli used for the bright red colour it can offer a dish along with a little spicy heat; full of antioxidants, Kashmiri chilli provides a substantial supply of vitamins, especially vitamins A and B as well as important minerals like iron and magnesium.

Indian food is packed full of healthy spices and herbs that make every meal that extra bit special and incredibly delicious. Kolhapuri Vegetables is one of our favourite vegetarian lunch time dishes, easy to prepare and full of healthy Indian ingredients, so everyone can benefit from a midday health boost. Don’t fall into the trend of letting your lunch time meals get bland, prepare your spices in advance and when it comes to throwing something mouth-watering together, you are all set to go!

Amazing Recipe for the Spices Above. Quick, Easy and Delicious.

Kolhapuri Vegetables – Vegetarian Dish

Kohlapuri vegetables as the name suggests is a popular dish of Kohlapur city which is located in the South-west corner of Maharashtra. It's an eclectic mix of vegetables with desiccated coconut and is traditionally known to be spicy.

How to Make Kolhapuri Vegetables

1.Mix the vegetables, yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, salt and grated onions. Keep aside.

2.Heat oil and add the onions and stir-fry till light brown.

3.Add the ground masala, saute till well, mixed and add the vegetable mixture.

4.Bring to a boil, lower the heat, simmer for 3-4 minutes and serve.

Ingredients used: (Lisa the ingredients highlighted in red will be what this blog theme will go as i.e. healthy spices for a lunchtime indian dish, these are the ingredients to focus on and write about and then showing the recipe to the customer)

Ingredients

1/2 kg mixed vegetables-chopped

2 Tbsp fat free greek yogurt (mix with ginger-garlic paste & leave for 3-4 hours)

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste

2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp oil

1/2 cup onion-grated

Dry roast separately and grind:

1/4 cinnamon ground

1/2 tsp cloves ground

1/4 tsp black peppercorns and cumin ground

1/4 tsp mace ground

1/4 dry grated coconut

1 Tbsp coriander seeds ground

1/2 Kashmiri Chilli ground.